Attleboro Access Uses JVC Mobile News Cameras for Live Reports

WAYNE, N.J.—JVC announced Attleboro Access Cable System, Inc., the public, education, government station serving Attleboro, Mass., and surrounding communities, is using four GY-HM650 ProHD mobile news camera for live news reports from the field.

Attleboro is located roughly halfway between Boston and Providence, R.I. According to Jim Jones, DoubleACS operations manager, unless there is a major news event, Attleboro is routinely marginalized by television news from the major market stations. “We want to provide that breaking news coverage to our community,” he said.

The mid-sized public access station had been trying to adopt some capability for live ENG for years. Microwave was quickly dismissed because of high initial capital costs. Satellite technology was easier to manage and required fewer startup costs, but satellite time—purchased in 10-hour blocks—was simply too expensive.
When the city was upgraded to 4G service about two years ago, DoubleACS personnel realized an opportunity to produce live ENG reports economically.

An active PEG operation with five full-time employees, DoubleACS produces more than 35 hours of content per week across its three channels, which are available on Comcast cable systems in the area. Programming is also uploaded to its Web site for on-demand viewing. Live ENG reports air during “Attleboro Update,” a weekly news program.

DoubleACS purchased its GY-HM650s in 2013 and has coupled each one with a MiFi 4G mobile hotspot. While upload speeds vary around the region, Jones said the streaming HD image quality from the JVC cameras remains solid between 1.5 and 3 Mbps.

At the station, two Teradek Cube 305 decoders convert the signal to SDI and feeds it to the production switcher for live reports from the field. The station feeds the IFB through a cellphone, so the studio anchor can speak directly to the reporter. Plus, Jones said the system only has two or three seconds of latency, so anchor and reporter can interact without major delays.

The GY-HM650’s most important features for Jones were the ability to stream live video and its .MOV native file recording, so there’s no transcoding necessary to start editing footage immediately in any of the station’s 10 Final Cut Pro NLE workstations.

Last summer, DoubleACS was on the scene for the arraignment of Aaron Hernandez, the former New England Patriots tight end charged with first-degree murder, at Attleboro District Court.